Brace yourselves, Aunt Becky fans. You’ve probably heard that Lori Loughlin (aka Aunt Becky on Full House) was arrested back in March. She’s accused of spending $500,000 in illegal bribes to get her two daughters into USC. Dozens of other parents were arrested for similar crimes — including Desperate Housewives star Felicity Huffman. Many of the accused, including Huffman, have pleaded guilty to the charges and apologised for their actions. But Lori Loughlin has gone a slightly different route since her arrest — one that’s left many people scratching their heads and wondering, frankly, what the heck her lawyers are thinking. First, she and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, reportedly rejected a plea deal back in April.
A plea deal likely would have come with a reduced amount of prison time for the couple. Lori refused to plead guilty because she didn’t think she did anything wrong, a source close to Lori said. But the couple might regret not taking a plea deal, because 13 other parents involved in the scam DID make a deal. And just one day later, prosecutors slapped Lori and Mossimo with another, more serious crime: conspiracy to commit money laundering. So for those keeping score at home, Loughlin and Giannulli now have two big charges against them: conspiracy to commit mail fraud (that’s the original charge), and conspiracy to commit money laundering (that’s the second charge that came one day after they didn’t plead guilty). They are pleading not guilty to both. And to make matters worse, Lori’s courtroom behaviour has been a little, well, bizarre. She made headlines back in April when she travelled to Boston for her first court appearance, and was all smiles as she signed autographs for screaming fans. “Prosecutors and judges want to see remorse. They want to see you understand culpability,” a legal expert told of the situation. “She showed none of that.” Basically, things aren’t looking AMAZING for Aunt Becky. So perhaps you’re wondering: Just how much prison time could Lori actually be facing now? According to CNN, her two charges come with a maximum sentence of 20 years apiece. Therefore she’ll spend 40 years behind bars if she is found guilty and gets the maximum sentence on both. And how much prison time would she have gotten if she’d taken an initial plea deal? Well, it’s impossible to say for sure. But Felicity Huffman, who did take a deal, is facing a recommended sentence of just four months.